The launch of the Airport Rail line might be delayed again because the signaling system has yet to demonstrate reliable performance and additional testing is required by the future operator, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.
The line was scheduled to be launched by the end of this year and in August, the ministry announced that the launch would be postponed until the end of March next year due to testing delays.
However, ministry official Chen Jian-yu (陳建宇) said that continual testing delays might result in the launch of the Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport link being put back for a sixth time, adding that two major problems emerged during integrated testing.
First, disputes between the signaling system contractor and its subcontractor have caused the system to operate unreliably. The second problem involves a three-month simulation test, which is required by Taoyuan Metro Corp.
Chen said the operator refused to allow its simulation to proceed simultaneously with a Bureau of High Speed Rail integrated test.
However, the simulation is not referred to in the ministry’s contract with Taoyuan Metro, Chen said.
Chen said that the ministry would discuss the issue of the test with Taoyuan Metro, adding that items to be simulated are already covered in the integrated tests.
He said that the ministry still aims to launch the Airport Rail by the end of March, adding that any change to that goal would be announced as soon as possible.
Bureau of High Speed Rail head engineer Chung Wei-li (鍾維力) said that the reliability of the Airport Rail system must first reach 97.5 percent, with test results validated by the bureau.
Chung said that the system must undergo another test after the validation, in which system reliability must be maintained at 99 percent for seven days in a row.
Should reliability fall below 99 percent on any day of the seven-day test, the test would have to be retaken, Chung said.
“The test would not start until the system passes the seven-day one. To begin the operation of the Airport Rail, the system still has to pass a preliminary inspection by experts not affiliated with the bureau and a final inspection by the ministry’s inspection committee,” Chung said.
Commenting on the reliability tests, Chung said that results varied from 40 percent to 100 percent.
Chung said that the contractor had sought validation from the bureau five or six times, but reliability never reached 97.5 percent.
He said that the contractor once had to cancel the test because one of the trains was delayed for 1 hour, 45 minutes, due to mechanical failure.
Taoyuan Metro chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) said that the simulation was decided on during tri-party negotiations.
“The ministry hoped to forgo the simulation in a bid to launch the system on time, but it is unacceptable to us,” Ho said.
“Our people cannot run the simulation while the bureau conducts integrated tests, because we need to be able to do the tests ourselves,” Ho said.
“Everybody wants the Airport Rail to begin operation as soon as possible, but the system has to be safe first, otherwise there would be no accountability if any incidents occur,” Ho added.
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